The survey also found that in 2012, 54% of investment advisers prohibit personal social media sites such as Facebook to be used for business purposes. Further, in 2012, 54% of investment adviser firms audit for compliance with social media policies.

This data suggests that the regulated financial services industries have realized the ubiquity of social media - not only in the personal lives of employees and clients, but in the financial services industries.

With so few investment advisers maintaining formal written social media policies, the regulatory expectation, AKA Best Practice, will be for every regulated firm to not only maintain such policies but also test for compliance with the policies.